IL Supreme Court OKs New Trial For Shadwick King

GENEVA, IL — The Illinois Supreme Court has ruled a 52-year-old Geneva man serving a 30-year prison sentence for the murder of his wife should be granted a new trial due to several errors Kane County prosecutors made while trying his case, according to the Kane County Chronicle. Shadwick King was convicted in 2015 of killing Kathleen King, 32, and then leaving her body along the railroad tracks in Geneva.

The 22-page Supreme Court decision cited testimony from Mark Safarik, a former FBI profiler, as reason a new trial should be granted, according to the Kane County Chronicle.

“Safarik is undoubtedly an expert in criminal investigation and crime scene analysis,” the ruling stated. “But that is hardly the same thing as being an expert in forensic pathology or botany, both of which are scientific fields into which Safarik’s testimony repeatedly transgressed. ... Safarik never should have been allowed to testify to these matters, and the trial court’s failure to exclude such testimony was undeniably error.”

More via the Kane County Chronicle

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